Technology overview (via MicroChips Inc.)
Daily injections of medicine may be crucial for patients who suffer from certain diseases. However, the pain involved may deter some patients from following their prescribed regiments , and this can lead to ineffective treatment. The company Microchips Inc., along with two other commercial companies, scientists at Harvard, MIT and the Case Western Reserve are developing a microchip system that could deliver individual doses of medicine while monitoring levels in the blood wirelessly.
The device was implanted and tried successfully in seven women who suffered from postmenopausal osteoporosis. The drug to treat osteoporosis, teriparatide, is to be injected daily for two years , and it works to build bone if given intermittently so it was the ideal candidate for preliminary testing of this device.
A single microchip is 1/15’’ thick, ½’’ long and 1/5’’ wide and is implanted using local anesthetics under the skin of the abdomen. The entire system is 2 ¼’’ long and 1 ½’’ wide and made up of two chips located on the surface of its titanium housing. Each chip contains 10 individual cubic reservoirs, each measuring 0.04 in wide, capable of holding 600 nanoliters of the medicine.
Each reservoir faces the patient’s skin and is covered with a metallic membrane made of a titanium and platinum composite. These membranes are connected to internal circuits, which deliver currents to the membranes to dissolve them and release the drug.
A close up of how the system works (via MicroChips Inc.)
This drug delivery system could be used to treat multiple sclerosis and chronic pain, but limitations to this device are clear in that they cannot be used to treat Diabetics because there is not enough room in the chip to store all the insulin needed. The company estimates that it will take 2 years to develop a chip that can deliver medicine for 365 days.
Many more human trials are needed to prove this technology is safe. Microchips Inc plans to file for FDA approval in 2014 , but the device will need 2 more years of clinical studies so it will not be available commercially until late in the decade.
No toxic effects were observed in the trial, although a faulty circuit prevented the drug from being released in the 8th patient. Blood tests showed that the quantity of the automatic doses was more consistent than shots and the drug was effective in generating bone growth.
Robert Farra, President and CEO of Microchips Inc announced that the cost of the implant and treatment would be around $10,000-12,000, which is very similar to price of standard injections.
Cabe